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• ..
February 5, 2002 Vol. 30 No. 11
State budget brings bad
news to universities
- Page2
VCUHS gets $1.1 million
planning grant
VCU Dance plans 20th
anniversary gala
BONIS, RAYMOND F
UNIVERSITY UBRARY SERVICES
PO BOX 842033
by Michael Ford
University News Services
The first sections of the $59 million,
nine-level Gateway Building will open
Feb. II after more than two years of con­struction,
linking the main section of
MCV Hospitals with its outpatient clinics
and consolidating more than a dozen func­tions
located at several sites on the
MCVCampus.
Doors will open on a first-floor patient
admittance area, a ground-level food court
and an innovative multimedia health
- Page3
information center that will provide print,
online and video health resources for con­sumers.
The Community Health
Education Center will be one of the
nation's biggest and most comprehensive
hospital-based health information libraries
for consumers.
One of the key features in the Gateway
Building will be a state-of-the-art imaging
center. Through a partnership with GE
Medical Systems, the imaging center will
feature a positron emission tomography, or
PET, scanner that can detect metabolic
changes at the cellular level; a high-resolu­tion
3.0 tesla MRI scanner and a cyclotron.
Cantor visits MeV Hospitals for security update
by Lorraine Cichowski
University News SeNices
u.s. Rep Eric Cantor (RNA) called
MeV Hospitals "the first lineof defense"
and said that he would fight for addi.­tiona!
federal resources, if needed, to
guarantee that MCY Hospitals is pre­pared
to handle victims of biological and
chemical terrorism.
"In our fight to secure our homeland
in the fuce of a biological or chemical
attack, nothing is more critical than
ensuring the preparedness of our health
care system," Cantor said during a Jan.
14 site visit to MCVH by his
Congressional Safety and Security
Council. "Enhancing readiness and
response capability is essential to avoid a
health care crisis."
Cantor created the council in late
November to identifY potential targets of
tenorism in Virginia's Seventh District,
which includes Richmond. The 26-
member council, which includes repre­sentatives
from state and local govern­ment
and the private sector, is preparing
recommendations to submit to President
Bush's directot of Homeland Security,
Tom Ridge.
Council member Sheldon M.
Retchin, MD., senior executive vice
president and chief operating officer of
the VCU Health System, led a 90-
minute presentation. and open discussion
that included an overview of MCVH's
response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
and plans to expand MCYH's capacity to
handle victims of terrorism. MCVH esti­mates
that it needs $2.8 million to
upgrade fucilities, increase bioterrorism
rraining and add equipment and supplies.
"The VCU Health System is relied
upon heavily as the primary hub in
Central Virginia for health care suppon
and related logistical activity during a
nuclear, biological and chemical terrorist
attack," Retchin said. "However,
resources are limited, and that consrrains
our ability to act in large-scale scenarios."
Other presentations were given by
Donna Katen-Bahensl-y, executive vice
president and chief operating officer of
VCUHS; Dean W. Broga, Ph.D., co­chair
of the External Emergency
Preparedness Commirtee, and Michael
Edmond, MD., hospital epidemiologist.
Cantor add...- a meeting ho_d by Dr_ Sheldon Retchin at MCV Hospitals.
- Page 4
The building also will include a computer­based
digital imaging management system
that will replace rraditional patient X-rays
and a telemedicine center that will allow
VCU physicians to work with countetparts
around the globe.
"For the first time, patients and their fam~
ilies will be welcomed to MCV Hospitals
through one door," said Donna Katen­Bahensky,
executive vice president and
chief operating officer of the VCU Health
System. "Not only is this new state-of-the­art
facility easy to access, more importantly
it allows us to offer our patients the highest­quality
medical testing and services."
VCU broke ground in September 1999
on the 215,900-square-foot Gateway
Building, part of a $65 million bond pack­age
of consrruction projects on the MCV
Campus that included expansion and ren­ovation
of several patient service areas.
Other diagnostic and treatment areas
that will be housed in the Gateway
Building include endoscopy/bronchoscopy,
dialysis, transplant, mammography and
transesophageal echocaraiagram. The
building also will have a blood bank; surgi­cal
pathology, pulmonary function and
electrophysiology labs, and areas for mini­mally
invasive surgery, telemedicine, short­stay
and recovery. Areas will open on a
staggered schedule through mid-year. The Gateway Building opens at MeVH.
VCU to open state's largest health
education library for consumers
by Michael Ford
University News Services
A 2,225-square-foot multimedia health
infonnation center opens Feb. 18 on the
MCV Campus to make it easier and quick­er
for patients, their families and the local
community to research health topics and
get answers to health questions.
The Community Health Education
Center, located on the ground floor of the
VCU Health System's new Gateway
Building fronting MCV Hospitals, will offer
print, online and video resources and librar­ian
assistance - all at no charge.
Nine computers connected to the
Internet are part of the center, as is a com'
puter room for private research. Two man,
nequins with organ systems and infonna­tion
cards are part of a special education
area devoted to children. A Web site has
been opened at www.vcuhealth.org/chec/.
"We are a vital part of the community, so
we have a responsibility to educate our
patients, their families and anyone who
wants to learn more about their health,"
said Donna Katen-Bahensky, executive
vice president and chief operating officer of
the VCU Health System and the visionary
behind CHEC. "It is exciting to be able to
offer a comprehensive library of resources to
the people of Cenrral Virginia."
The idea for CHEC was born in May
2000 when Katen-Bahensky was
approached by the MeV Hospitals
Auxiliary of VCUHS and asked for ideas
on how to best spend $100,000 that the
auxiliary had earned through vendor and
hospital gift shop sales and donations.
Katen-Bahensky suggested a community
health center, reflecting the growing
national trend of making it easier for con~
sumers to access health infonnation, partic~
ularly through the Internet.
VCUHS matched the auxiliary's
$100,000, and another $50,000 was donat­ed
by the Richmond-based Theresa A.
Thomas Foundation. 11,e VCU libraries
also has contributed computers and
staffing support.
In addition to volunteers, VCUHS has
hired a full-time director for the center,
Patricia A. Hammond.
CHEC will be open Monday through
Friday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m .

• ..
February 5, 2002 Vol. 30 No. 11
State budget brings bad
news to universities
- Page2
VCUHS gets $1.1 million
planning grant
VCU Dance plans 20th
anniversary gala
BONIS, RAYMOND F
UNIVERSITY UBRARY SERVICES
PO BOX 842033
by Michael Ford
University News Services
The first sections of the $59 million,
nine-level Gateway Building will open
Feb. II after more than two years of con­struction,
linking the main section of
MCV Hospitals with its outpatient clinics
and consolidating more than a dozen func­tions
located at several sites on the
MCVCampus.
Doors will open on a first-floor patient
admittance area, a ground-level food court
and an innovative multimedia health
- Page3
information center that will provide print,
online and video health resources for con­sumers.
The Community Health
Education Center will be one of the
nation's biggest and most comprehensive
hospital-based health information libraries
for consumers.
One of the key features in the Gateway
Building will be a state-of-the-art imaging
center. Through a partnership with GE
Medical Systems, the imaging center will
feature a positron emission tomography, or
PET, scanner that can detect metabolic
changes at the cellular level; a high-resolu­tion
3.0 tesla MRI scanner and a cyclotron.
Cantor visits MeV Hospitals for security update
by Lorraine Cichowski
University News SeNices
u.s. Rep Eric Cantor (RNA) called
MeV Hospitals "the first lineof defense"
and said that he would fight for addi.­tiona!
federal resources, if needed, to
guarantee that MCY Hospitals is pre­pared
to handle victims of biological and
chemical terrorism.
"In our fight to secure our homeland
in the fuce of a biological or chemical
attack, nothing is more critical than
ensuring the preparedness of our health
care system" Cantor said during a Jan.
14 site visit to MCVH by his
Congressional Safety and Security
Council. "Enhancing readiness and
response capability is essential to avoid a
health care crisis."
Cantor created the council in late
November to identifY potential targets of
tenorism in Virginia's Seventh District,
which includes Richmond. The 26-
member council, which includes repre­sentatives
from state and local govern­ment
and the private sector, is preparing
recommendations to submit to President
Bush's directot of Homeland Security,
Tom Ridge.
Council member Sheldon M.
Retchin, MD., senior executive vice
president and chief operating officer of
the VCU Health System, led a 90-
minute presentation. and open discussion
that included an overview of MCVH's
response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
and plans to expand MCYH's capacity to
handle victims of terrorism. MCVH esti­mates
that it needs $2.8 million to
upgrade fucilities, increase bioterrorism
rraining and add equipment and supplies.
"The VCU Health System is relied
upon heavily as the primary hub in
Central Virginia for health care suppon
and related logistical activity during a
nuclear, biological and chemical terrorist
attack" Retchin said. "However,
resources are limited, and that consrrains
our ability to act in large-scale scenarios."
Other presentations were given by
Donna Katen-Bahensl-y, executive vice
president and chief operating officer of
VCUHS; Dean W. Broga, Ph.D., co­chair
of the External Emergency
Preparedness Commirtee, and Michael
Edmond, MD., hospital epidemiologist.
Cantor add...- a meeting ho_d by Dr_ Sheldon Retchin at MCV Hospitals.
- Page 4
The building also will include a computer­based
digital imaging management system
that will replace rraditional patient X-rays
and a telemedicine center that will allow
VCU physicians to work with countetparts
around the globe.
"For the first time, patients and their fam~
ilies will be welcomed to MCV Hospitals
through one door" said Donna Katen­Bahensky,
executive vice president and
chief operating officer of the VCU Health
System. "Not only is this new state-of-the­art
facility easy to access, more importantly
it allows us to offer our patients the highest­quality
medical testing and services."
VCU broke ground in September 1999
on the 215,900-square-foot Gateway
Building, part of a $65 million bond pack­age
of consrruction projects on the MCV
Campus that included expansion and ren­ovation
of several patient service areas.
Other diagnostic and treatment areas
that will be housed in the Gateway
Building include endoscopy/bronchoscopy,
dialysis, transplant, mammography and
transesophageal echocaraiagram. The
building also will have a blood bank; surgi­cal
pathology, pulmonary function and
electrophysiology labs, and areas for mini­mally
invasive surgery, telemedicine, short­stay
and recovery. Areas will open on a
staggered schedule through mid-year. The Gateway Building opens at MeVH.
VCU to open state's largest health
education library for consumers
by Michael Ford
University News Services
A 2,225-square-foot multimedia health
infonnation center opens Feb. 18 on the
MCV Campus to make it easier and quick­er
for patients, their families and the local
community to research health topics and
get answers to health questions.
The Community Health Education
Center, located on the ground floor of the
VCU Health System's new Gateway
Building fronting MCV Hospitals, will offer
print, online and video resources and librar­ian
assistance - all at no charge.
Nine computers connected to the
Internet are part of the center, as is a com'
puter room for private research. Two man,
nequins with organ systems and infonna­tion
cards are part of a special education
area devoted to children. A Web site has
been opened at www.vcuhealth.org/chec/.
"We are a vital part of the community, so
we have a responsibility to educate our
patients, their families and anyone who
wants to learn more about their health"
said Donna Katen-Bahensky, executive
vice president and chief operating officer of
the VCU Health System and the visionary
behind CHEC. "It is exciting to be able to
offer a comprehensive library of resources to
the people of Cenrral Virginia."
The idea for CHEC was born in May
2000 when Katen-Bahensky was
approached by the MeV Hospitals
Auxiliary of VCUHS and asked for ideas
on how to best spend $100,000 that the
auxiliary had earned through vendor and
hospital gift shop sales and donations.
Katen-Bahensky suggested a community
health center, reflecting the growing
national trend of making it easier for con~
sumers to access health infonnation, partic~
ularly through the Internet.
VCUHS matched the auxiliary's
$100,000, and another $50,000 was donat­ed
by the Richmond-based Theresa A.
Thomas Foundation. 11,e VCU libraries
also has contributed computers and
staffing support.
In addition to volunteers, VCUHS has
hired a full-time director for the center,
Patricia A. Hammond.
CHEC will be open Monday through
Friday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m .